Friday, February 24, 2006

A Box Full of Choices!

How often dyu hear people say -

"I am sorry,but I didn't mean to do it"" I just could'nt help it""I so wish I could have"....

Tons of such never ending remarks ... On and On ...never ever rethinking on what we say. I just began thinking on this, when i passed on such a statement to a friend of mine and then wondered overninght on what i would have done if such a statement was passed on to me by somone. I just began thinking at a larger perspective in general, of such responses from homosapiens (not that I ain't one :), nor am I an exception) consciously. Well of course, it just happened that i also saw "The Matrix" once again in this period and realized how much profound and philosophical the trilogy was than just an entertainer.Not that i am a big fan of techno movies or something, but somehow this movie is worth mentioning in this context.

In this movie, there is a lot of reference and importance to "Choice". As someone said, life is a box of choices! This, we take for granted though we go through it at a subconscious level. All of the above are conscious choices and are not a binding. Words like "Had to"/"Have to" are binding words used to express our choice of acting against that which is expected of you. This is usually done for different things,to mitigate the disappointment to the other party, to avoid confrontation, to be the nice guy, not having the courage to tell the bitter truth,diplomacy and the list goes on.

If you are subject to a bond, you choose to abide by it and not forced to. Why? Because you choose not to face the consequences of breaking it. So these binding words only indicate their choice spoken implicity in a diplomatic manner, something we learn from the society intuitively.

I usually(said usually, not always for people who know me) do not make promises that I can't keep up and would choose to jeopardize more important things just for my commitments. Some people find it too brash (when I am not being all too nice) and stupid (for giving more importance to my commitment over all else). But that again is a choice I made.

Comming back to The Matrix - The Oracle, Merovingian, The Architect and Neo make the choices and govern them. The Oracle and Merovingian belive in choice among similar lines though they interpret it differently.

The Oracle, claims that every individual does what he does because subconsciously he has made a choice to do so, even though he may not understand it at a conscious level. I call this gut feeling or human instinct?Others call it deciding by your heart instead of the mind. But there is another thing that she adds to this when she addresses to Neo (in Matix Reloaded). Our conscious mind follows a choosen path (self choosen, someome making the choice for you, someone showing you the door or telling you what you just needed to hear). But we fail to understand the path that we are taking, and end up wandering aimlessly (typical of those who believe - Ignorance is Bliss).

The Oracle guides those people who try to understand the choice and make sense of it, rather than living out a life. She helps Neo understand the subconscious choices that he has made.

The Merovingian on the contrary believes that - "Choice is an Illusion between those who have power and those who do not". He believes people who have power make the choices and other live by it. His dialogue also gives hint as to what he believes as being powerful - the "Why?" factor, the knowledge. His belief that understanding the "Why?" at a conscious level lends you the ability to make choices.

Which is exactly what the Oracle grooms people into doing but building on right from their subconscious choice. The Merovingian interprets it as Causality while the Oracle sees it as Belief. Two conflicting schools I presume. Two ways to keep the humans under control.

The Architect is an interesting side though, with visibility of choice only as far as to balance the equation at hand. And who believes and makes believe that "the systemic anomaly in an otherwise perfect harmony of mathematical precision" is given to the inalienable human nature to choose (accept/reject). Remember the dialogue by smith "The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from"?

Neo at last is the one who begins his journey by making subconscious choices driven by conscious values. He grows up to understand the repercussions of his choice, and lives by them. And his choice to survive (which the oracle phrases as - "you should have been dead, but you were not ready for that either" in Revolutions). And finally alike our "Gangai Maindhar Bheeshmar" who chooses his time of death, it is at his own choice (after understanding much) that he becomes the saviour at his own cost. Neo is more closer to the common men among us trying to find our way in life.

You might be asking, why all this crap ramblings and put my own interpretations in a post. Well, that's a choice i made to write and its a choice you made to read. But beyond this, its paramount to understand that binding statements are a facade to choices that people make. That people choose something else over commitments to you, and this is being put in a polished fashion afraid of how u'd handle the bitter truth.

What affacted me was the change in attitude I went through when I started saying "I Choose to" in place of the "had/have to"'s. In my world today, I almost choose everything consciously. I avoid the "had/have to"'s as they imply a subconscious choice. At least when I say it to myself I make sure it is a conscious choice, whilst I keep my fingeres crossed and put on the facade to others (honestly is not always welcome you see) :p.

For patient watchers, philosophers, Matrix enthusiasts and other lunatics like me who are incited into this topic - Watch the trilogy with your reception antennae tuned to the motif of Your "Choice". There is more in there than you would have imagined.